Taking the Pulse of a Tense Israel

By Jonathan Feldstein

Last week, I went to Beirut, at least according to Google Maps and Waze. I was driving in northern Israel and no matter what app I used, or how I entered data differently, my starting point brought me to the Beirut airport. A short seven-hour drive from where I was going.

I was not alone – residents across Israel reported disruptions with their GPS-based navigation apps like Waze, Moovit and Google Maps, telling users they were in Beirut, most likely due to IDF jamming actions. After all – there is a war going on!

Things are tense in Israel at the moment. Last week was the last Friday of Ramadan (when there’s usually heightened tension, threats, and violence from our Arab neighbors celebrating the Islamic holy month), and especially this week as Iran threatens to retaliate for the targeting of its IRGC terror leader in Damascus. 

Yesterday I was out with my brother and sister-in-law visiting from the US and received dozens of messages from people asking what they can do, how they can pray, and what the situation is. I wasn’t aware of the reports they were seeing that triggered their concern until later. Frankly, I knew most of all that was going on and have accepted it. Their messages of genuine concern made me a little bit more concerned.  For me, living here amid a war, with the threat of a further escalation from day one (we are now six months into the war) has become the norm. It is really far from normal. 

Here’s what’s going on:

The army has canceled the leave for combat soldiers; more reservists are being called up again; public bomb shelters are open (we have one in our home as do many Israelis); the air force is on high alert, and GPS is being jammed as far south as Tel Aviv because Hezbollah has tens or hundreds of thousands of precision GPS guided missiles that can reach anywhere in Israel.  By jamming the GPS, the expectation is that those pointed at particular targets will miss their mark.  But if only ten percent of the volume of rockets and missiles that Hezbollah has, get through – estimated at between 150,000-350,000 total – there will be a great deal of death and destruction on our side alone.

Everyone I know with whom I have spoken about it believes that not only is a war with Hezbollah imminent (though different people debate when and under what circumstances), there’s nobody among these people who doesn’t believe that it is necessary, even knowing that thousands or more Israelis may be killed. It will be carnage here, and much worse in Lebanon. We cannot continue living like this and allow Hezbollah to continue threatening us with hundreds of thousands of rockets and precision missiles. At present, some 100,000 Israelis from northern border areas evacuated from their homes and communities. They are refugees in their own country!

The sense of an imminent war existed before events this week. Israeli intelligence, especially in Lebanon, Syria and Iran, as demonstrated with the targeting of this Iranian IRGC terror leader, is excellent. I hope when the war with Hezbollah begins, it will begin and end on our terms. It is scary either way. 

It’s easy to project what many of the terrorists’ targets are. I imagine some of their missiles getting through, hitting sensitive military sites, government buildings, airports, power plants, as well as tall apartment buildings. I wonder if any of them might accidentally go astray and hit either the Al Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock, Islamic sites on the Temple Mount.  It would be ironic if they took out their own holy sites and shrines, and knowing that of course the world would somehow blame Israel.

In addition to impacting families who will be displaced, suffer loss, and whose loved ones will be called up to fight again, many Israelis like us are stocking up on non-perishable food and bottled water, and making accommodations for the possibility that a terrorist attack could leave us without power for days. As inconvenient as it will be, the thought of walking up seven flights in our building that will not have a working elevator is the least of my concerns right now.

It’s a good thing I have a good sense of direction, otherwise when my GPS said I was in Beirut, I might still be lost in northern Israel. Yesterday, amid rocket fire from Gaza (still) and Lebanon (dozens a day), one of the big news items here was the GPS jamming creating huge traffic problems.  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned.  Prayers are needed and appreciated. 

The war in Israel is likely to get much worse before it gets better.  While Israel is currently in combat on multiple fronts – Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and the West Bank – it could dramatically escalate if Iran takes a more muscular posture directly – beyond its proxies. Compounding and confounding Israel’s position is that it has extended enemies from far afield fighting it politically and diplomatically, issuing direct threats and demands, blaming Israel rather than Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran for the war and the threat of escalation. 

Whatever will be, Israel will need its friends standing by its side.  Wherever you are, please show support and pray for Israel to remain strong, unified, and victorious.

About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).